Stefan Talian

I was born and raised in former Czechoslovakia. I'm schooled in culinary arts, hotel management and marketing. After completing my degrees I decided to go to see the "world". I came to the US as a chef and was enjoying it a lot and getting ready to open my own restaurant. At the same time I was doing some modeling which required lots of time in the gym. Being and chef and being a model is not the best combination. One personal trainer told me, that I need to stretch more. She told me about Bikram Yoga. In my first Bikram Yoga class I almost died, but that night I knew that THIS IS IT, and I was hooked.

I practiced a lot, I spent less and less time in the gym. People started asking me what I do different, because whatever it is, it works well. I had a hard time explaining how and why it works, so not even a year later in spring 2009 I decided to go to Teachers Training in Palm Desert. I spent 9 weeks there, the best time of my life. When I came back to Vermont, where I was still a chef, I realized that people in my restaurant loved me for about 90 min, while they were enjoying my food and having fun, but then when they left feeling stuffed and guilty, they kind of hated me for while. In yoga, people hate me for 90 min, when I'm telling them to do weird stuff with their bodies, but then they love me forever. And cooking people is much more fun! So a couple of months later I quit my job and became a traveling yoga teacher. I was traveling and teaching for about 4 months and my last "stop" was in San Diego. I planned to stay for few weeks, but somehow I've been here more than year. I guess I found what I was looking for, I'm home ;)

I'm loving my new life. It's awesome to be able to share with people all that I've learned from Bikram and to see how their lives change. I still have a lot to learn and I'm willing to do so step by step, one breath at the time. I hope to see you all in hot room soon, NAMASTE ;-)  - go back